How To Organize Your Kitchen On A Budget

There are many things that you already have in your home that you can use to organize your kitchen. All it takes is a little creativity and imagination.Old food containersYogurt containers are especially helpful for storing small things like corn holders, twist ties, toothpicks, rubber bands, paper clips and push pins. Take a black marker and write down on the lid of the container what is inside. That way you do not have to open it to figure out what you put in the container. Larger plastic containers from things like margarine work great for helping you organize sauce packets or spice packets. When you use this to organize your kitchen, make sure to store the same kind of packets together. If you have several containers with different types of packets, labeling the side of the container works great. Glass jars from spaghetti sauce, jelly, olives, pickles or mayonnaise work great for storing items as well. The great part about glass jars is that you can see what is inside so there is no need to bother with labeling them. Using cardboard as drawer dividersI have used this one myself before and it works great. Measure the drawer to make sure that you cut the cardboard the right size and then just cut a sturdy piece of cardboard to fit in the drawer. In order to make it look better, wrap each divider in some standard brown craft paper. This is a great way to organize your kitchen drawers and it does not cost a cent. Shoe boxesShoe boxes are my favorite organizing tool. My preference is to use the basic plastic shoe boxes that you can find very inexpensively in stores but you can use traditional cardboard shoe boxes just as easily. I like the plastic shoe boxes because you can easily see the contents inside and often then do not have to label anything. If you decide to use the traditional cardboard shoe boxes, it makes it easier (and makes it look nicer) if you cover them in brown craft paper and label the outside. When I organize my kitchen, I use shoe boxes for organizing oatmeal packets, granola bars, pastas and a whole lot more. They keep your cupboards neat and are easily stackable so you can maximize the use of your space.